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Truly Free Film

10 Lessons I’ve Learned About Making An Independent Erotic Art Film

By Alexia Anastasio

In January, 2014, The Wrap’s Tim Molloy asked a panel including Lena Dunham, HBO’s Girls executive producers Jenni Konner and Judd Apatow why there was so much nudity on the show. Yes, 2014.

“It’s because it’s a realistic expression of what it’s like to be alive,” explained Dunham. For many indie filmmakers, especially females who also star in their projects, it can be a trap.

While it may seem bizarre to keep having this conversation of why nudity is used, we should really be talking about when nudity is used and how it can be an effective storytelling tool.

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Truly Free Film

Nobody Knows Anything #3: What Makes A Film Successful?

By Charles Peirce  

Nobody3-300There’s a certain watercooler betting-pool mentality that accompanies the box office results of movies, as though their success were completely encapsulated in a single opening weekend’s results. This despite the fact that everybody knows Hollywood accounting is particularly slippery, that budgets never reveal the accompanying marketing costs of films, that foreign market revenue is increasingly important to the success of many films, and that ancillarly sales can be a primary rather than secondary revenue stream. Nonetheless, we seem to equate box office numbers with whether a film worked, whether it’s worth anyone’s time, and whether it’s going to ruin somebody’s career or save it.

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Truly Free Film

Who Did What For Me: Generosity, Guidance, & Support

It’s a bit hard thinking through what actually constitutes “good” within an industry.  A lot of our “job” is to make things better, to introduce people, to facilitate deals and stronger projects.  Generosity is about going that extra step — doing the thing that is not expected and that truly helps.

It’s Thanksgiving here in America.  It’s an odd holiday and even if it’s origins are not the greatest, I still dig the spirit.  Today I try to examine those that helped me when they did not need to, or whose help was beyond the call of duty

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Truly Free Film

Co-Production Studies: Strategic Partners Forum

Guest post by Yael Bergman

A few days at Strategic Partners, Halifax, Canada and a crash course at International Co-Production Financing.

I saw Ted in Toronto a few days before heading to Strategic Partners in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He suggested I write on his blog with what went on there. I am reporting back now…

I write this as an Australian producer who recently produced a romantic comedy in Australia called I Love You Too.  It was completely financed within Australia, largely with Australian and state government investment, and the tax rebate (up to 40 per cent of Australian spend). We are fortunate in Australia to have this public funding as a resource, and whilst it is perpetually competitive, it is the way most film and television is made in Australia. It sustains the industry and ensures we continue to tell Australian stories.

My producing partner, Laura Waters, who is originally from Colorado but has lived in Australia for almost 20 years, regularly comments that she can’t believe governments actually give you money to develop and make stuff here. Well, it’s true!

To some independent American producers, this must sound like the gold pot at the end of the rainbow, but the reality is it’s a limited pool and the funding bodies (and consequently, the producers) are always trying to work out a way to make it stretch further.

One good way is via co-producing, i.e. we split the cost of making a project over two or more countries that has a vested interest, and then we can each claim it as our own as a “national film”. Arguably, the project should be culturally relevant to each producing country and there needs to be a fair split between creative elements and financial contribution, but on the whole, with a bit of juggling, it can work very well if the project calls for it.  (NB: This applies for international producers entering into an official co-production with Australia, the project becomes automatically entitled to the Producer Offset rebate as an Australian project, up to 40% of Australian spend.)

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Truly Free Film

You will laugh, you will cry…

Oh, we know this story, don’t we? Get’s me every time, even when it’s robots telling it instead of my friends and collaborators — which isn’t to say there aren’t some well-deserved happy endings either.

Check out the other episodes too. There are five of them.

Hat tip: Chris Monger
P.S. Watch “Temple Grandin” which Chris co-wrote on Sat 2/8 on HBO. I would, if I had cable or the DVD…